


Cats Can't Be Force Controlled

by twoseas



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Crack, Getting Together, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Kylo can speak cat, Kylo x Millicent friendship, M/M, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 21:02:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8505247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoseas/pseuds/twoseas
Summary: Hux's cat Millicent goes missing, leading to a frantic search across the Finalizer. When Hux finds her, she has taken the liberty of using Kylo Ren's table of ashes as a convenient litter box. Hux is prepared to possibly die defending his cat's life from the Force user. What he isn't prepared for is Kylo's seeming fluency in unspoken cat. He really isn't prepared for what happens when Kylo and Millicent become friends.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly love the table-of-enemy-ashes-as-cat-litter headcanon/trope. This is my interpretation.

General Armitage Hux suffered only two weakness to which he was willing to confess even in the privacy of his own mind - his inability to accept anything beneath complete and utter control of a situation and his cat Millicent. Given the severity of dedication he felt towards the one ginger haired creature he loved (his father certainly didn’t count, he didn’t even place), Hux’s near mental breakdown on discovering that his dearest Millicent was missing made sense. 

“Phasma,” Hux barked into his comms. “Have you seen Millie?”

“No, General,” came the deliberately accented reply. “I’m training. Should I order a search?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Holding in another scoff, Hux forced himself into collection. “Most aboard the  _ Finalizer _ don’t know about her. I can’t risk it.”

“Shall I leave the gymnasium and search myself? Using the utmost discretion of course, sir.”

“No, no,” Hux was distracted, thinking through where Millie could possibly have ended up. The cat only ever saw his quarters. They were among the largest, but perhaps the time in space had gotten to his poor cat, the darling thing growing stir crazy. If she was out stretching her legs, would Millie remember her way back to Hux’s quarters? She was smart, but he knew nothing of her skills at navigation. 

Phasma cut through his contemplation, voice carefully bland and facilitating, though obviously exasperated at what must have been a long silence from her commanding officer. “Sir, how would you like me to proceed?” 

“Keep an eye out, contact me if you see her or hear any talk.”

“Of course, General.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Fruitless conversation ended, Hux returned to his own search. He strode up and down the halls, long legs stretching and head swivelling in a mechanically efficient back and forth. He needed Millicent, he needed her safe, and he needed her undiscovered. Where else would she go? Millie’s own weaknesses tended towards the culinary, the cat having an oddly agrarian taste for blue milk. Despite her love of food and drink, the mess hall and kitchen lacked any sign of a feline presence. Millie also loved viewports, inclined to sit long hours in front of the black expanse of space, intrigued by the distant stars and planets, eyes always trailing after departing shuttles and TIE fighters, enamored by fired turbolaser blasts. And yet she wasn’t on the bridge or any of the viewing decks. 

Panic swelled, choking Hux in a way to which he was unused. He felt his breathing grow shallow and uneven, his heart beating a frantic tattoo against his chest. Millie had to be here somewhere. For the first time Hux was not proud of the immense proportions of his beautiful Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, flagship of the First Order. Instead he wished the ship small, more manageable for a single man on the search for a creature as diminutive as Millie. The girl was bigger than she had been when he first obtained her, tiny enough to fit in his palm, but she was still a sleek little thing under the thick fluff of her orange fur. She could be almost anywhere. 

Weakening to the point of desperation, Hux paused when, against all odds, a small meow echoed from an open doorway that led to a room for interrogation and prisoner containment. Another delicate meow, bright in the darkness of the hall. 

Damn it all, that was Ren’s preferred room, the one with his disturbing table of ashes. 

Oh, no. 

Hux sped up. He recognized that meow, that inquisitive and demanding exclamation from Millie’s whiskered mouth. That was not good, not good at all. Not in Ren’s personal interrogation room, not by Ren’s macabre table of ashes, not when ashes were grey, dusty, and altogether too litter like. What if Ren was there? What if Ren was there with Millie? 

Nonononono. 

Then, just as he was at the door way’s edge, came the unmistakable sound of Ren’s voice, augmented and distorted by that entirely unnecessary mask of his. “What are you doing here?”

The scritch-scritch-scratch of Millie preparing her chosen patch of litter (ashes of the deceased) reached his ears. Hux closed his eyes tight, praying he was mistaken. Then the smell reached him. 

Oh, kriff.

Knowing there was no letting this go, Hux reached for his holstered blaster. And so this was how the great General Hux met his end. Not in battle against the Resistance, not at the hands of his faithless father, not murdered by his political enemies or Snoke. No. Instead, Hux was going to die, force choked or stabbed by a lightsaber because his cat had relieved herself in the cremated remains of Ren’s fallen adversaries. 

Ready to jump, finger on the trigger, Hux moved. There would be no use jumping in blaster ablazing, that would be foolish in the extreme. Ren stopped blasts with no more effort than it took to hold out his hand - an ability Hux did his best not to find impressive. Instead Hux cut the edge slowly, back tight against the wall as he turned in smooth increments. He crouched, keeping his head below the expected eyelevel of a grown adult. Finally, his movement afforded him a view of the room. Sure enough, there was Millicent, her back legs carelessly kicking up ashes over her own waste. The ashes rose in a dusty cloud, dirtying her feet and dulling her brilliant fur. Ren stood there motionless in his black cloak and chrome accented mask, the dark figure staring at the cat who dared to defecate over his favorite prop for intimidation. 

Now was his chance, Ren’s back to the door and attention caught entirely by the nonchalant cat now stretching her way out of the pile of ashes. Holding his breath and thanking the superior stealth that let him move undetected, Hux lifted his blaster and prepared to fire and move. 

Just as Hux readied his advance and made peace with the fact he and Millie may not survive the encounter, a strange noise left Ren’s mask. The sound was garbled and loud, as if the apparatus responsible for conveying Ren’s voice was malfunctioning. Then came the hiss of air as Ren removed the entire helmet, revealing voluminous wavy hair. And laughter. That strange noise was laughter being filtered through his voice modulator. Kylo Ren was laughing. 

Hux backed several steps away in instinctive horror. 

Ren wasn’t just laughing, he was guffawing unrestrainedly.  The man’s laugh was deep, breathless, and he was practically snorting. His eyes were crinkled in mirth, a different look from the usual cold superiority, restrained submissiveness, manic rage, and incongruous (and occasional) soulfulness that Hux had seen in those big brown eyes before. 

“Ah, I see what you’re doing here,” Ren spoke, still chuckling. 

Millicent looked up at him blithely, whiskers pushed forward and ears set back. 

“No, no, not at all.” Was Ren...talking to his cat? 

Millie’s tail twitched. “Yes, if anything I approve. I feel the same about them myself.”

Leaping off the table, Millie took to sniffing the floor around Ren’s boots and then Ren’s boots themselves. “Indeed, that how they got here like this. Not to worry. I’ll manipulate one of the sanitation workers into taking care of it. They won’t even know they cleaned it up. What? No, not at all. I’ll just burn something else and replace the ashes, not like anyone will know.”

Hux gawked, mouth stupidly open. Seemingly comfortable, Millie circled several times, brushing herself against Ren’s ankles. “Are you lost?”

More ankle brushing. And Ren kept talking, his helmet casually held against his hip, the picture of indifference to the cat that had defiled his enemies’ ashes. “Where are you from?”

Millie chirruped as she occasionally did when a particularly bright laser blast shot in view of the viewport. “Ah, naturally. Shall I direct you back to the General’s quarters? I’ll take you to the door and you can wait there. I don’t have the codes and I doubt-”

General’s quarters? 

Oh, oh bloody hell. 

Ears buzzing, Hux made his careful retreat far out of view. Certainly Ren seemed to find Millicent’s presence acceptable, or at least not worthy of extermination, but Hux couldn’t be sure Ren would feel the same about him when he realized just what he had witnessed. Which was, oddly enough, a laughing Ren having a freakishly coherent conversation with his cat Millicent. 

Hux was just out of sight when Ren left the interrogation room, Millie at his heels with her tail held high like a flag. 

“Not to worry, no one will notice you,” Ren continued speaking to the cat. His mask was back in place and his voice was consequently altered. “I’ll turn their perception. It’s quite easy. Easier than controlling them, which with this bunch isn’t all that difficult. Hm? Yes, Force manipulation, it’s all a matter of-”

Ren’s voice and tapping footsteps faded as they moved in the direction of Hux’s room, leaving Hux to pick his jaw off the floor, holster his weapon, and wonder at everything he had just seen and heard. When he arrived at his quarters, Millie was waiting outside his door, tail curled over her dainty paws. There was not a hint of Kylo Ren ever having been there. 

 

This became a bit of a thing, Hux realized. 

Millie would disappear, Hux would panic, and then Millie would turn up outside his door, by herself and completely unrepentant for her absence. After dismissing the idea that what he had seen was a delusion (Hux wasn’t one to fantasize over silliness like what he witnessed), Hux took to observing Ren more than ever. 

Situations had always called for him to maintain a higher than average amount of awareness about Ren. Snoke gave Ren special privileges and his position was strange on the  _ Finalizer _ , not below Hux but not quite above him either. Ren was a dangerous player in the First Order, entirely too unstable but undeniably valuable to the Supreme Leader. Deny it though he might, Hux also recognized the man’s value. He did not rise to his current place through lack of ability. Ren also possessed the irritating proclivity of questioning Hux, though he never completely overstepped the bounds of what Hux would view as sedition. He never seemed all that interested in overthrowing Hux and taking his generalship, but that did not mean Ren was to be trusted. Kylo Ren was an unknown element, Hux unsure of what motivated the masked and caped Force user.

Now he found himself observing the man for a particular reason - checking to see just what Ren’s intentions were towards Millicent. The man’s black clothing could now be seen tarnished by fine orange hairs, Millie’s fur sticking to his robes, cape, and gloves. There were also new holes and tears in Ren’s admittedly ragged cloak. Holes and tears, Hux noted, that were not too unlike those that Millie liked to leave in Hux’s old undershirts and blankets. All clues bafflingly led to Ren liking Millie. Then there were all the times Hux snuck about to catch glimpses of Ren with his cat, unbeknownst to the two. 

There was the time after they found and thoroughly confiscated a smuggling ship full of weapons for the Resistance:

“I know you don’t like the new smell,” Ren’s uncovered voice spoke warmly. There was a melodious tone in his deep voice, mesmerizing almost. If Hux was foolish enough to think such things. Which he absolutely was not. “No, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not my fault the smugglers hauled rathtars before arming the Resistance. No, I can’t do anything about the air quality. The Force doesn’t work like that. Just wait it out, I’m sorry.”

Then there was the time Hux overheard them moving towards Ren’s quarters:

“Yes, I procured some just for you. I honestly don’t understand your love for blue milk. It absolutely does not. My uncle used to have it. No, he didn’t like it that much either, preferred hot chocolate of all things. Hm? Oh, I think it reminded him of...before. Yes. Exactly like your enjoyment of nerf steak.”

And of course, how could Hux forget the time that changed everything he knew about Kylo Ren?

They had just failed to capture that pilot again, the Resistance famous one. Poe Dameron. The bastard had escaped, hyperspacing away without hesitation and leaving behind an unacceptable trail of destruction as he did. Hux had spent a good hour of his time chewing out his subordinates, Captain Phasma had struck fear into the hearts of the Stormtroopers, and he was ready to cuddle up with Millie and drink the strongest beverage in his private stash. Naturally, Ren would be throwing a tantrum and destroying a several million credit control panel at the very same time. Alerted to the man’s display of unprofessionalism, Hux took it upon himself to shout the man down and maybe lay out a few threats of his own when Ren inevitably shouted back. 

Things did not go quite according to plan. 

Ren’s tantrum was sending sparks out into the hall, not a single Stormtrooper or officer in sight, no doubt avoiding the man like a plague. Before Hux could conjure up enough rage and frustration at the childish behavior, Millie ran across his vision and directly into the room with Ren. Heart stopping, Hux ran to stop her before she could become the collateral to Ren’s outburst. But then the sparks stopped and the sound of the lightsaber’s humming and crackling ceased. Then came the hiss of air that signalled helmet removal. 

When Ren spoke, it was in a voice strangled by emotion and entirely unexpected in its wretchedness. 

“Please don’t do that again. I might hurt you. No. No. Of course not. I- I just can’t...I can’t help it. We needed his information. I saw into his mind before, I know he knows. He has valuable information, knowledge of Resistance bases, tactics. Yes, yes her too. Of course he knows where she is. I saw her in his memories, though he tried to cover them up. She looks much the same, perhaps sadder. She smiles less. I just- why can’t she understand. She’s Force sensitive but she never even tried, too busy with the Senate, and I want so badly…”

A frustrated and unintelligible exclamation escaped the man, interrupting his tirade. Hux hesitated, considering leaving now that the damage to property was ended. Yet he couldn’t help but stay, listening in on this private conversation, only one side of which Hux ever heard. He made the excuse of espionage, knowing Ren’s weaknesses would be a strategic advantage should the man turn against him. Deep down, Hux knew he was weakly, humanly, curious.

“I know. I don’t care about that, I just want to complete Darth Vader’s work! My grandfather, do you know what he did? And why? He did it for my grandmother, for my mother and my uncle. He did it to give them everything even before they were born. They don’t understand, they don’t think I’ve figured it all out. The Darkside is the way. The power, it’s what protects us. Had Grandfather succeeded... The ultimate strength and protection, the ability to bend the galaxy to our wills, all of it would have come to pass.”

“No, I don’t care about that. Politics are my mother’s concern, never mine. No. I could not care any less than I do now. The First Order only matters to me as much as I can use it. Snoke too. No, I wouldn’t. For all I care, Hux could take over the entire Order and declare himself the new Emperor.”

A brief pause, a barely noticeable meow from Millie. When Ren spoke his voice was calmer, more measured and thoughtful.

“Actually, that wouldn’t be so bad. He’d do a better job than those currently running the Order. Yes?”

A snort of laughter. 

“Of course you’d like it. I think it’s an idea worth considering at least. If he ever seems like he wants to make the move I’ll offer my assistance, not that he’d take it. What? No. He despises me. Oh, I can tell. No, of course not. I don’t read minds on a regular basis, though I can sense the general direction of thoughts on occasion. Not Hux’s. Because he has a strong mind, shielded. It’s quite intriguing. No, you wouldn’t know. Well, most cats can’t be Force controlled. A few species that share feline characteristics are much the same. They make for fascinating Force users, their inability to be controlled a huge boon to their progress with Force use. Yes, no. In addition to willful, they’re also rather capricious and tend not to take one side over the other. Mostly Grey Jedi come from cat like species.”

Hux stood there, breathing heavy and ignoring the more informational aspect of Ren’s speech to Millicent. The man complimented him. He called him intriguing. He thought his mind strong. He would offer to help him overthrow the current leaders of the First Order and declare himself Emperor! New ideas (more like old ideas given new life) flit through and filled out Hux’s mind. A stirring of awareness, a desire for power, and appreciation for Ren’s powers and, if he was fully embracing his new epiphany, handsomeness. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed before. Kylo Ren was a striking figure, fit and tall with a bearing Hux found attractive when he wasn’t busy criticizing Ren’s methods and behavior. A most appropriate partner, in appearance as much as ability. 

Ren’s voice broke through Hux’s revelation.

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. Shall we take you back to the General’s quarters? You know I can’t. Could you imagine if he found me there? There’d be a scene. Hey! Enough of that. I should have never told you what I thought about his eyes. No, absolutely not. This discussion is over. Fine, would you like me to carry you there?”

His eyes? Ren liked his eyes? Is that what he told Millicent about? Did he think him handsome? Did he desire him? A sudden heat swept through Hux’s body, leaving him smirking and unsure in turn. 

Distracted, thinking over the new possibility of Kylo Ren beside him in more ways than one, Hux did not notice when the conversation between Ren and his cat had ended and their walk began. Ren’s heavy footsteps were not enough to rouse his awareness, not until it was too late. 

“General?” Ren froze in front of Hux, arms full of fluffy orange furred Millicent. 

“Ren?” Hux blinked, heat suffusing across his cheeks. 

They stared at each other, wide brown eyes meeting startled green. Millicent purred in Ren’s hold, the only noise for a moment. That is until Ren’s fingers went lax, the grip on his helmet failing and sending the cumbersome thing to the ground with a clatter. 

They both jumped at the noise, Millicent leaving Ren’s grip with a disgruntled huff that wasn’t quite a hiss. 

Gaze inextricably on Hux, Ren held out his hand, the helmet returned to his grasp with a inattentive ease. Still staring at Hux, practically daring the man to make a move or say something, Ren moved to place his helmet over his head and once more conceal his features with that inhuman black and silver mask. 

“No,” Hux blurted. 

Ren paused, elbows bent as he stopped mid motion. “General?”

There was a careful politeness in Ren’s voice, out of place with the man who had spoken so fondly and familiarly with Hux’s cat, the man who had questioned Hux’s every order, the man who had taken every opportunity to smash Hux’s beloved  _Finalizer _ when the mood struck. Kylo Ren, Hux realized, was a very damaged, very unstable, very complicated, very fascinating man. And Hux would have him. 

Hux, after all, relished the thought of bringing order. And what was order without the threat of chaos?

“Ren,” Hux smirked, shoving aside the shock and instead making his voice and expression as unthreatening (maybe even as flirtatious) as possible. “I see you’ve met Millicent.”

“Yes,” Ren’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as the cat in question took to rubbing her face against Hux’s highly polished boots. Showing a rare moment of vulnerability and trust, Hux leaned over and picked Millicent up, the back of his neck exposed to Ren and his eyes only on his cat.

The gift was apparently taken as it was meant, Ren’s expression, so easily read without his atrocious mask, turning from suspicion to outright surprise. “General Hux?”

“Would you care to accompany me and Millie back to my quarters?” Hux’s purr could challenge Millicent’s. 

Brow knitting, Ren searched Hux’s face. The frown of frustration that formed over Ren’s features was the only warning Hux received before Ren was searching his mind, the feeling unfamiliar. It was as if all his thoughts were being dragged forward. Hux did not fight back, instead opening his mind as much as he found himself capable. Ren’s mouth fell open as he read Hux’s thoughts, eyes boring into Hux’s as if that would confirm the impossibility he was sensing. 

“Find what you were looking for, Ren?” Hux teased, mouth quirking and eyebrow rising. 

“Why?” Ren recovered enough to become wary once more. Good, Hux thought. It wouldn’t do for this to be too easy. Worthwhile things rarely were. 

Hux smiled, allowing himself the expression. “Because you’re good with my cat.”

“Is that all?” Ren relaxed a fraction, growing less stunned by the ideas churning behind Hux’s emerald gaze. 

“No, it’s really not.” 

Ren responded to Hux’s mischievous smirk with a gasp of laughter, as small thing he most likely never meant to make known. “You’re a curious man, General.”

“About a great many things,” Hux countered. The two men seemed in silent agreement, turning towards Hux’s quarters with matching strides. Millicent purred her approval. 

“You can call me Armitage, if you’d like,” Hux offered another bit of himself, something personal he did not afford others the luxury of knowing or using.

“You ought to call me Kylo, Ren could refer to any number of the Knights.” Kylo walked on, gaze directed forward. “I like to be perfectly clear in these matters.”

A shiver of delight worked its way up Hux’s erect posture. They reached Hux’s quarters, the general tapping in his access code with alacrity. “Do you?”

“Yes,” Kylo spoke low and rough, deep voice taking on a heated quality that could melt all of Hoth, Hux suspected. “I also know you don’t want me to call you Armitage, General.”

“And why wouldn’t I?” The door slid shut with a hydraulic sigh, leaving the two locked in Hux’s room. 

“You should put Millicent down,” Kylo suggested. 

“Oh?”

“Yes.” Gingerly setting his helmet down on Hux’s round table, Kylo eyed Hux’s bed with a considering tilt of his head. “I think it would be for the best if your arms are empty when I first call you sir.”

For the first time in his life, Hux dropped Millicent. The abandoned cat’s disgruntled grumbling was lost on him. Hux was too distracted, Kylo silently promising all sorts of wonderful, dangerous, filthy things, those rich chocolate eyes glinting with secrets. 

Yes, Hux suffered only two weakness to which he was willing to confess. Perhaps he would be willing to confess to a few more - only once he was Emperor, of course. 

 

**The End**

  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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